More notes from RootsCampDC...

State party organizing for 2008 & minority outreach

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Sunday, December 3, 2006

 

50 State Strategy is not a presidential strategy

-Not enough money, etc

-In the past election cycles, Rs have been trying to change their brand and appeal to Latinos (Martinez in RNC)

1) Niche marketing is important to them

 

2004 Florida

-Gubernatorial candidate with problems in black community (voted against compensation package for wrongly accused). Sugar lobby supported this branding against Jim Davis, who had inability to fund response. Lost 17% of black vote.

-The notion of one-size-fits all doesn’t work; it’s beaten by niche marketing

 

’08 field:

-Clinton has credibility of minorities, as does Obama, Richardson, Edwards

-Vilsack: only Democratic governor to sign English-only legislation. How he threads that needle is a question that we should consider

-McCain has moderate image among Hispanics, went against Republicans on immigration.

-Juliani has mixed records with blacks, but is popular w/ Latinos

-Brownback is a moderate with immigration and is good on AIDS & Darfur

-Rice as VP candidate should be a concern for Democrats

-Mel Martinez as chair of RNC. Probably will pose a problem for RNC to recruit in black community. There is still a significant philosophical point of view that their advances are part of a zero sum game. They can only advance if they are the favorite of white people. This is a limited but significant enough fact to consider.

-Netroots community: not a lot of black or brown. Unlike labor, women, gays, Jews, neither black nor Hispanic community has developed groups outside of the Party. Therefore, the Party becomes the central vehicle for their agenda. Sometimes Labor occupies that space, but elsewhere the Party is the default player.

 

Netroots—racist powderkeg? Concentration of arrogant white guys who don’t want to talk about race. There may be a lot of blowups or conflicts around this.

-Happened with Lamont

 

It’s not just about winning those communities, it’s about winning them overwhelmingly. Ford ran a very classic Southern populist race. They couldn’t get him on taxes, so they turned to race and social values. This is not new stuff.

 

What they’re doing in Florida:

-Focusing on mayoral elections and identifying primary candidates

- In most black and Latino districts, there is a supermajority that makes the primary the real fight. Need to make access to information good across the board for all primary candidates

-Who you feature at events says a lot about who you are. Having Obama as the first major featured speaker for Florida DP and having reception with black caucus and making space for black media sent a message about how the party will do things differently. Trying to get Harold Ford for next year.

-Program/research on minority communities. In Florida, community is not Af/Am, but it is Black (Haitian, Dominican, Jamaican, Nigerian, etc). Within immigrant community, aspiration economic messages from Rs are appealing. Not quite as concerned about immigration policies. As we think about the Hispanic community, you have to know that Puerto Ricans don’t care about immigration policies. So many politicians don’t know that and make mistakes. Cubans are not the majority of Hispanics in Florida, and they are becoming more and more swing voters as they age and don’t really know or care about Castro. Hispanic voters by and large are like most immigrant communities: there are interested in aspirational messages. Cesar Chavez doesn’t compare to Martin Luther King. For Caribbean Black Americans, MLK doesn’t mean much.

 

In FL, they have two black and two Hispanic county chairs. County party operation no more accessible to minorities than other parts of the Party. There are many in those structures who see themselves as more of a social entity. Overwhelming old, white, non-native. To change the culture, FDP is trying to change the county party function, make them more campaign-oriented. Disseminated vote goals within minority communities. Leverage local black electeds to better help them understand the relationship the institution needs to have with black community to reach minority vote goals.

 

Going into 2008, the next step is to bring more minority representation into the actual institutions. This is stage 2.

 

In 2005, spent $1 million on black & latino media for the first time in off-year election. Local electeds will have desire to have control and be gatekeepers to the minority communities. There are two types of people in the party: those who want control, and those who want results.

 

Lost opportunities to bring people in because they were majorly in debt in 2004. Limited ability to bring people in.

 

Don’t have money to talk to everyone, and someone has to drive the train. All about people carving out their own area. But netroots community was too busy arguing about what the party was doing instead of figuring about what they could deliver. DFA people would go through training, take resources, do something else, and not bringing it back to the file.

 

It’s not that you need a prior relationship with minorities, because you can win them. Iowa & NH skewers perspective on what you need to do to win general election.

 

Party needs to show campaigns and locals that they are interested in helping, not just enhancing their status as an independent entity.

 

ACT’s notion was to have boots on the ground by March and staffed by people who knew what that party would be interested, even if not working with the party. There were two exceptions to increases in black and Hispanic turnout: NM & FL. Bush message worked in Caribbean communities, in NM Kerry picked up in white community and lost significantly among Hispanics. This was the zenith of R outreach to Hispanic communities in social engagement. Communication in Spanish shows I value you and I know who you are. Leveraged financial advantage to underwrite Hispanic business expos, etc.

 

You combat that with sufficient research to know concerns and figure out how to engage them. To communicate in FL by mail or on the phone, you need to speak in Spanish, especially in S Florida. Spanish is the language of commerce. Working with PR community, speak bi-lingually. They want to know that you respect where they come from, but many aren’t fluent in Spanish themselves. The key is micro-targetting. Traditional approach is to do no research and take portion of minority vote for granted.

 

It’s about demystifying how relationships should work with the community. Take the power from gatekeepers who take the money. Let’s everyone walk away cleanly with someone to blame if things go wrong rather that guaranteeing that things don’t go wrong.

 

Comment:

There needs to be a sea change in the state parties. One of the things that Dean is adamant about is tying funding to the staff looking ike the places where we’re putting them. They need to reflect the makeup of the state. Native American organizers in Alaska, etc. Tying dollars to performance is good. Don’t ghettoize to certain constituencies, however.

 

To overcompensate, they say that we need black & Hispanics to talk to blacks & Hispanics. But then they’re only allowed to talk to black & Hispanics. This should not be how you approach staff interests. Race is often not as important as experience in communities. Part of changing the culture is not limiting minority organizers to minority communities and the reverse.

 

This is not about don’t hire white people. Hire a staff that represents and has experience in those communities. Don’t want to have all-white staff, it’s about having a diverse operation.


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